Transparent, See-Through Curtains of My Life. LOL, JK!

There have been many activities in my school this year (emphasis on many), and I wanted to participate in almost all of them, sadly, I couldn’t. Even in a single one. I did try out for the English speech. I thought I was good, I know my speech was good. I did audition for it, and then motions attacked me. Motions, stomach aches plus head aches can really knock a person out of life, and the worse part is that they happen to me simultaneously. I did go for the first two auditions, and sadly on the final one I couldn’t attend school. Sigh. I call it fate. I tried to keep my speech understandable and using easy language, without using any words that might get a person to use a dictionary.

I still have the draft paper though, and sometimes when it’s night I keep reading it, maybe because I’m.. Still depressed about the speech competition ~3 weeks ago? Yeah I guess I’m prone to inferiority complex and depression. Here’s my speech anyways

Respected Elders, and fellow Schoolmates, Assalamu Alaykum! I, Ziad Shafi, am completely in favor of the topic and agree that ‘The World Today Is Driven By Greed And People Only Care For Themselves’. The world today is not the same as it was a decade ago. Now I’m not talking about modernisation and technology, but it’s our attitude and how it’s changing. This change is not positive, rather, one that will lead to the end of humanity. The world we live in today is empowered by greed, and we are slaves of arrogance.

Now in an year like 2010, if someone were to say that they actually cared for others and wanted to make a difference, it’s a straight lie. Greed has shaped humanity in sinister ways. An employee of a firm, for example, would be least bothered about framing his own co-worker just in order to get under the good graces of his boss.

I want you all to close your eyes and imagine.. Let’s go back to 1947. The people there, the people of Pakistan, well they were enthusiastic. They were ready to receive the refugees who, at that time had nothing at all with them; yet were welcomed by warm greetings. How about 1965. Everyone signed up for the military. They really were courageous people. They were ready to lay their lives down for our country’s sake. FOR US.

.. But where is that spirit now? We just want everything we lay our eyes on, and are interested in securing our interests instead of even THINKING about the welfare of others. Why do we turn a blind eye to the people of the flood? The flood victims you see everyday on your televisions, they have nothing with them. Nothing but hope. Hope that we will help them, sadly, half of us didn’t even try to do so.

For the people still oblivious and completely unaffected towards my speech, I have just the perfect proverb for them, that goes..

Last week I was handed the date sheet of my first assessments this term, I shoved it in my table deep enough that I eventually forgot about them. I was chatting with my friend today morning and he brought up the topic of the assessments that are starting tomorrow. Somehow, I got rid of him quick enough, with the voices of my dad scolding me buzzing in my head. Since I was a child, dad always scolded me for getting bad grades until he finally etched it on me that bad grades is.. an omen. Unless it’s Urdu though. I always sucked in Urdu. And I always will. So today I had an archeological experience of digging out the date sheet from inside my table. Seriously, I feel for the archeologists. The date sheet went something like this. Assessments starting from Monday and the paper was once everyday. Islamiat, Geography, History, Biology, Chemistry, Maths, English, Physics, Add Maths and Urdu. MORE TENSION! How the !@$% should I study for Islamiat, Geography, History AND Biology, consecutively!? There’s just one answer to that~

Don’t.

Okay, study and use internet like normal.

Study and use wee amounts of internet.

I really really prefer the first option though. DAMN IT WHAT’S WITH MY SENSES?! I don’t want to study, and I want to get good grades. So hilarious :/Okay, coming back to the real world

You can kill me, but assessments don’t matter. No I’m not saying that lay back and ‘chill’ , but just don’t panic about them or you’ll blow yer head up. For real. Assessments are just to check whatever you’ve learned till now is of course, correct. There’s no such thing as failing unless you give a blank paper, and trust me you don’t want your parents seeing that very blank paper. What I mean is to study, give a break, don’t pressurize yourself and trust me, it’s as easy as cake! I don’t want to brag though, but I study for them for like just two to three hours. I never, NEVER study the subject more than a day before the paper (though it’s an old habit of studying for the assessments on the night before them, let’s just study for it also in the day. Not more, though). I don’t know about others, but it sure does help me cool off. Don’t get the feeling that you need to cut off using internet and go on cybernal-hibernation.

.. Though I seriously think my tips would only work if you at least have an interest in your studies.

Right now at 3am, I can do anything but study as my eyelids are begging me to roll down, I’ve kept them up too long and don’t even bother rechecking what I wrote above. Well I just.. typed it with an empty head being nailed by the devastating rays of my 19 inch monitor in a room that knew not tungsten nor tubelights, with the only thing keeping me awake is the minute amounts of caffeine in a cup of Green Tea. Hitting the bed as I hear Ace Of Base, I might just dream about Jenny and Linn Berggren tonight. Good Night!

When my school started, I had shortly posted on my blog about me being busy throughout so I could give concentration to my studies. It was true.. temporarily. After the first weeks of school, I was finally back in sync with my previous year’s lessons. Since the job was done, I couldn’t wait to use the computer and come back to blogging, I had all the time in the world to do so until I stumbled upon ‘SIMS 3’. Okay, I didn’t stumble on it, just that I had laid my hands on the CD. I did not expect this though, but I found myself allured to the game that I started spending every second on it, blaming the school for being busy with work.

I must say, the game really IS awesome addictive!

Addiction is bad. Bad bad. Especially for someone like me who looks forward to chatting with everyone and getting along with his friends, games are miserable hindrances that waste the precious time. Trust me, if you find yourself addicted to an offline game, get away. Treat it like the Boogeyman you used to listen about as a kid. During the month of Ramadan, I could conjure myself four hours of free time on which I could freely use the computer, and from those four, half an hour went to facebook and the latter, SIMS3. This addiction took away the time I had to socialize with my old pals (as I’d call them), who, after a week I finally remembered about. I tried catching up to them and was given a cold shoulder.

It hurt, for real.

Once again today I was playing the game and I got a text from a friend of mine, asking if I were free, I replied back with a simple ‘nah, doing Mathematics’. It was only after the next minute I realised there was a revolt inside me for lying to him. It was right then that I made up my mind to actually go out and feel the fresh air (of the internet and chat-o-sphere) rather than being locked up like a geek focusing on the computer about how would his barbie doll would fare this week.

Moral of the article: Never ever get addicted to games. It affects your life.

Okaay, so yesterday on the 6th of May, I had my English exam. The first part compromised of 5 choices to chose from and composing an essay/story/descriptive writing of 350-600 words.
One of them was “Imagine you are a bird, describe what you see and feel.”
I chose that one. ^^
I don’t really remember exactly what I wrote, so this one’s is eh.. Just a copy of it? Never mind, here goes nothing =D. Though note this is the suckier version, I request my Eng teacher to give me a copy of my paper

It was one of the most amazing dreams I had ever experienced. No, it felt too real to be a dream, nor was it an imagination of such power. It was so surreal that I refuse to believe it to be unreal. Well, this happened right after I closed my heavy eyes to the stillness of the night. The next thing I knew was the smell of cow dung stinging my nose. Then, the dominant cries of the morning Roosters combined with the morning Sun’s rays woke me up, followed with a shriek. I was a Pigeon. Enough Said. Yes, those pigeons who peck on bald heads and drop their.. ‘droppings’ without even watching. Though they are not THAT bad, these cozy softballs rather have a beauty that yet remains unparalleled. I slowly watched at my white feathery wings, draping down my body, covering it like curtains of velvet.

The serene dawn beckoned me forward and the next thing I knew I fluttered my wings and glided out from the barn. I did not need to know why was I a Dove, I just was. I rose and seared through the vast cyan skies, watching children, all naked, fighting, playing and bathing in the Ravi river. It was then I realised how my senses of vision and smell were so sensitive. Even a light bulb looked like a Supernova, and I could smell the taste of the traditional ‘Bun-Kebabs’, ‘Pani-Pooris’ and the infamous ‘Anda Paratha’ combo as I crossed the street hawkers.

For once, I started loving my Mother Country, as from bird’s view (literally), I saw old men sitting in the balcony wearing loincloth, covering their navels and ankles. Women started preparing dough for the morning Breakfast. I did not think all what seemed to be just boring routines, were actually the exclusive things one can experience here. I decided to go higher, and faster, tearing through the skies till such extents that the winds made fluttering noises against my feathers and to take revenge, started screeching and shrieking against my ears. It was then I turned back towards to observe the horizon and encountered a flock of ducks. Green bellies brown necks and grey heads. I had never seen that colour combination on a duck before, I thought to myself. Their glistening beauty invited me. The floppings of their wings seemed like debris crashing from a building, each one releasing powerful vibes to let me go off balance. Said they were heading to the coast by following the majestic Indus, and that I could join them if I pleased.

I felt bad to turn their offer down though, but the roars of people were intriguing and as I headed to the source of the cheerful wave, I was led in a stadium. Two teams, one in Blue and another in Green emerged from two sides of the stadium. It was the biggest event of THE decade. The cricket World Cup’s final was going to be held today in Lahore, against Pakistan and India. I never was fond of cricket though, what attracted me more were the boys, suddenly showing up running to and fro on the benches. Carrying ice cold tang juice with them, to refresh the throats of the people-who-just-dried-their-mouth-by-shouting-exuberantly. I made a quick dive, hoping to snatch just ONE glass of the juice, as I never noticed how my stomach growled and my throat was playing the role of the Sahara, dry due to not even having a pint of water since morning.

Diving, that was the best part of being a bird, too bad it did not last long. My eye sight started to blur and soon I was in a blackout. I was back in Earth, forget the Mother Country. The awe-giving reality was over. But surely, I do not think I would forget it anytime soon. Like a sticker on my memory.

Okay, I wrote this while giving my admission exam for Karachi Grammar School’s English paper on 13th of March 2010. There were other questions too, but this one was just awesome :P

Q. Write a 150 word passage on “A massive wall of water pushed forward… The Tsunami!”

A massive wall of water pushed forward, hacking down the masses. It dragged the population back like a miniature Black Hole on Earth. A storm was brewing in the Satin Black velvety skies. Nature surely didn’t intend to leave any survivors. People ran, trying to flee as the waves devoured their kinsmen, tearing their houses apart. ‘Funny how they run away, like they believe they’re going to live’, thought Alan Presscot. It was all like a movie scene, except the casualties were real. The dead will not pop out behind the scenes, grinning, nor a director to yell ‘Cut’ when it was all over. Alan was content. No worries, no regrets, nothing left undone. He smirked. Taking a step forward, ready to be buried alive by this wall of water, ready to face the Tsunami.

A perfect day at school. All’s going well until after break, some kids decided to throw water on each other, wetting their sorry pants -.-” Then as usual teacher comes, friends stand up for eachother and then comes the threat. No P.E. Awesome, no ^^? Damn those faggots :/ So all the boys were asked to stay in class for P.E. and Afterschool. Our English teacher made us write an essay (Rules aren’t meant to be broken). Many boys grunted, but I was one of those few who enjoyed writing it :P I wrote it in a depressive style, with my English teach commenting “Very Mature” and “I Loved Your Composition” again. (YES!! w00t for braggers xD!!) Take note that I DO NOT mean anything written here =P

Everything has rules. From games to academics. It’s a misconception of students that even though how much they study, they should have fun. It’s not that way. No matter how much of studying is done, there are certain rules to prevent a student from unleashing, and keeping him humane.

Not that students should NOT have fun, but, they can, in some certain LIMITS. If there were no rules, people can go insane, thinking that there is no authority to pass on decisions and monitor them. Like being free from the burden of being under someone. Everyone needs some kind of guidelines made by elders, who are MUCH wiser. Following rules is a common practice, as instructions always lead people to the right place. Right where they belong.

Break a rule, you suffer. A very simple rule of school. There’s no reason to be heroic like in the T.V. Shows, standing up and defending others. It’s like making the worse come knocking in at your door. If you do not tell who is responsible for something, you will make everyone who is not involved, seem like they are involved. So, one has to make a choice of either taking his friend’s name, or just staying shut, only to make no only his friends, but even the innocent are mercilessly dragged in it. When people have fun, and cross their limits, they know their ‘crimes’ would be brought in light. So, it is better to confess, and that way no one gets harmed. Now that is truly heroic.

In school, bravery, courage, heroism, words like this have no meaning. All of this is false, television world. Lies for kids. Life is all about rules meant to be followed. Disobey and you suffer.

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The GUY

Welcome to Drops of Ink! I'm Ziad Shafi. Currently 14, this blog is about my literary life in Pakistan and my views on Current Affairs ^^
I love photography, swimming, football and whatever catches my eye, including you if so!